Lymm 3 – 26 Sheffield Tigers Report by Andy Leach
LYMM welcomed table topping Sheffield Tigers to Crouchley Lane on a day when conditions, although perhaps not as bad as had been forecast, suggested that this was a day for conservative controlled rugby with defences in the ascendency.
So it was for large parts of this encounter. With Knowles, McEvoy and Ashall unavailable from last week’s starting 15, benchers Wells and Higginson joined Nolan in the starting line-up; the front row rotated with Auden starting and Horton on the bench where he was kept company by Jones and Rasheed.
From the kick-off, Sheffield showed their intent and, with the help of a couple of soft penalties conceded by Lymm were soon playing the game inside the Lymm 22. However, Lymm’s solid defence won out and it was Lymm who had the first opportunity to put points on the board after 8 minutes – but Nolan’s wide-out penalty attempt from 25m, was narrowly off target. Tigers did eventually break the deadlock on 17 minutes with a 25m penalty, this time from in front of the posts. 0-3.
With the game being largely played between the 22s and no side really in charge, it always looked as if individual skill was likely to be the difference. So it proved when, on 30 minutes, the Sheffield right-wing, Montgomery, having received the ball 30m out from a static backline seemingly going nowhere under pressure from the Lymm defence, kicked through cleverly using the heavy pitch to put the brakes on the ball just before the dead ball line.
His searing pace and a Tom Daly dive did the rest as he “surfed” towards the ball to win the race to touch the ball down. With a failed conversion the teams went into the break at 0-8.
At half time the match was definitely in the balance. Lymm’s line-out had been outstanding and the scrums were largely an even affair. Tigers were probably sharper at the breakdown and appeared to have a marginally superior kicking game. Both team talks would, I’m sure, have been focused on the importance of the next score and the need to capitalise on any advantage. Unfortunately for Lymm, on 43m, skipper Adam Bray left the referee with no alternative other than to give him a 10 minute rest for a blatant infringement at a ruck. Sheffield immediately capitalised on this, slotting over the subsequent penalty from 23m to stretch their lead to 11 points. 0-11.
With Lymm having to play the next 10 minutes without talismanic skipper Bray, the view on the sideline was that this was probably going to be the defining part of the match with Sheffield likely to power home their numerical advantage. How wrong can you be? Firstly, on 45 minutes Nolan converted a penalty from 24m. 3-11.
Then, on 47minutes he elected to have a highly ambitious 53m shot at the posts – perhaps as much to wind-down the clock in Bray’s absence as a belief that 3 points would follow. They didn’t as the kick agonisingly fell a couple of inches on the wrong side of the crossbar. So when the numbers were evened up, Lymm had enjoyed a period of parity on the scoreboard. A further Tigers penalty did follow on 62 minutes to return their advantage to 11 points. 3-14.
The decisive score then followed on 65 minutes and, again, was the result of clever Sheffield play. From the apparent safety of a line-out on the halfway line, Lymm failed to thwart a strong mid-field burst which put Tigers on the front foot. The ball was quickly recycled and in what appeared to be a planned move fly-half Ireland deftly cross kicked the ball straight into the arms of left-wing Packard, who ran in unopposed. From the sideline this play had been coming for a while as Packard appeared to be spending increasingly long periods closer to the spectators on the touchline than his outside centre! The conversion was again missed. 3-19
A final converted try for Sheffield on 68 minutes, probably one that Lymm would concede they should have defended better, concluded the scoring.
An industrious performance from Lymm which just fell short when it mattered. The penalty count of 2-1 against certainly didn’t help and on the occasions when they did get into the Tiger’s “red zone” Lymm ultimately paid the price for failing to make it count. However, there was plenty to be positive about and to build on for next week’s trip to local rivals Stockport.
Team: 1) Nick Ashton, 2) Ross White, 3) Mike Auden, 4) Zak Lythgoe, 5) Alex Kaihau, 6) Ollie Higginson, 7) Jack Harper, 8) Adam Bray (C), 9) Chris Owen, 10) Ollie Lancaster, 11) Cormac Nolan, 12) Tom Bray, 13) Giles Dugdale, 14) Mark Wells, 15) Richard Halford, 16) Dan Horton, 17) Aaron Rasheed, 18) Rhys Jones
